Bugs, Bugs & MORE Bugs!

Yesterday I strolled to the back of our townhouse to check out the wildflowers and various wildlife that make their homes back there. What a difference two weeks makes! Two weeks ago, there were Leaf Cutter Bees everywhere. Now there are just bugs everywhere. Lots and lots of bugs. As an example, one small flower:

Most interesting to me was that long orange beetle in the upper left-hand corner. I had never seen one before, and they were everywhere. Oh, how I love the Internet!!! I discovered they are Goldenrod Soldier Beetles, and they are actually desired by gardeners because they eat aphids and the eggs of undesirable sorts of insects. There are ones in different colors, and they are named Soldier Beetles because the back resembles the British “Red Coats”. Here are two of them, one with its wings open:

I thought this photo of a bumblebee really brings home how un-aerodynamic bees truly are (“Do these stripes make my butt look big?”):

That’s it for now. Go ahead and shudder, but yes, I have more bugs for later!